May 2010
5 posts
DoD Investigating Nine Cases of... →
From my blog at TheNation.com:
Buried within the new Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, “Contingency Contracting: A Framework for Reform,” is the eye-opening revelation that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service has nine open investigations into alleged “Terrorism-Related Acts” by “U.S. contractor personnel, U.S. Military, Government...
Pentagon Seeks Private Contractor to Move Weapons... →
Excerpt from my latest article at my new blog at TheNation.com:
The United States military is in the process of taking bids from private war contractors to secure and ship massive amounts of US military equipment through sensitive areas of Pakistan into Afghanistan where it will then be distributed to various US Forward Operating Bases and other facilities. According to the contract solicitation,...
Were US Special Forces Involved in the Arrest of... →
Excerpt of my new post on TheNation.com:
Reports are emerging suggesting that secret US military intelligence aircraft were used to find and locate Faisal Shahzad, the man accused of attempting to set off a crude car bomb in Times Square. The CBS affiliate in New York reported today: “In the end, it was secret Army intelligence planes that did him in. Armed with his cell phone number,...
WatchVideo of Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now! Tuesday discussing his story for TheNation.com “Secret Erik Prince Tape Exposed.”
Secret Erik Prince/Blackwater Tape Exposed
The reclusive Blackwater founder tries to ban journalists and recorders from his speeches in front of friendly audiences. This time he failed.
By Jeremy Scahill
READ THE FULL STORY ON MY NEW BLOG AT THENATION.COM
Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of the Blackwater empire, rarely gives public speeches and when he does he attempts to ban journalists from attending and forbids recording or...
April 2010
5 posts
I'm Speaking in Erik Prince's Hometown the Same...
Blackwater’s founder and owner Erik Prince is headlining the Tulip Time Festival in his hometown of Holland, MI on May 5. The press release is precious.
I have just accepted an invitation to speak in Holland, MI that same day. Can’t wait for Erik to show me around! Here is the press release from the Interfaith Congregation of Holland, MI, the group that invited me:
“Blackwater”...
Ex-Blackwater Prez Made $1.5 Mil a Year, 90% From...
By Jeremy Scahill
Here’s a question for all those fans of the mercenary industry—some of whom pop into this site—who say that the private security industry is a conduit to allow patriotic veterans to continue their service through Blackwater et al., that the money is exaggerated, and that the profits aren’t all that:
How do you like these apples?
Gary Jackson, the...
Firm Run by Ex-Israeli Special Forces Soldier...
As the Obama Administration continues the military privatization agenda, a CIA-connected firm and an Israeli-run company named Instinctive Shooting International are looking to cash in
By Jeremy Scahill The Obama administration has continued the Bush-era reliance on private contractors to sustain the US occupation of Iraq and the US operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Obama has surpassed...
Blackwater Indictments Are Like Al Capone Going... →
Excerpt from my latest article in The Nation:
Last week, the Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury had returned a fifteen-count indictment against five current and former Blackwater officials, charging them with conspiracy to violate a series of federal gun laws, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Among those...
Dennis Kucinich: White House Assassination Policy... →
Excerpt from my new story in The Nation:
There has been almost universal silence among Congressional Democrats on the Obama administration’s recently revealed decision to authorize the assassination of a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. One of the few Democrats to publicly address the issue of government-sanctioned assassinations is Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. “I don’t...
February 2010
3 posts
Pentagon Releases Names of US Soldiers Killed in...
By Jeremy Scahill
The Department of Defense has confirmed what we reported Thursday in The Nation: the US soldiers killed Wednesday in northwest Pakistan were “white” Special Operations Forces (see here for an explanation). I spoke to a knowledgeable US military source today who told me that it is likely that the men were doing precisely what the DoD says they were: training Pakistani...
JSOC, American "Trainers" and the Expanding US War... →
From my latest article in The Nation:
Three US special forces soldiers were killed in northwest Pakistan this week, confirming that the US military is more deeply engaged on the ground in Pakistan than previously acknowledged by the White House and Pentagon. The soldiers died Wednesday in Lower Dir when their convoy was hit by a car bomber in what appeared to be a targeted strike against the...
January 2010
15 posts
UPDATE on Blackwater, Robert Gates and Pakistan →
Read the full story at The Nation
Defense Secretary Robert Gates Confirms Blackwater...
By Jeremy Scahill
In an interview with the Pakistani TV station Express TV, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that the private security firms Blackwater and DynCorp are operating inside Pakistan. “They’re operating as individual companies here in Pakistan,” Gates said, according to a DoD transcript of the interview. “There are rules concerning the contracting...
WatchMERCY-NARY: My appearance January 21 on The Rachel Maddow Show, discussing how US mercenary companies are looking to cash in on the earthquake in Haiti.
Blackwater Wants to Surge its Armed Force in...
A newly released State Department audit of Blackwater praises the firm’s work as the US government weighs expanding Blackwater’s operations in Afghanistan.
By Jeremy Scahill
A just-released US State Department Inspector General’s report [PDF] on Blackwater’s work in Afghanistan reveals that Blackwater is proposing increasing its private armed forces in Afghanistan,...
US Security Company Offers to Perform "High Threat...
Here we go: New Orleans 2.0
By Jeremy Scahill
We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about “looters.” After Katrina, the number of private security companies...
Follow Democracy Now!'s on-the-ground Reports from...
For those of you on Twitter, you can follow Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Democracy Now! as they cover the disaster in Haiti via the following links:
http://twitter.com/sharifkouddous
and
http://twitter.com/democracy_now
US "Security" Companies Offer "Services" in Haiti
By Jeremy Scahill
The Orwellian-named mercenary trade group, the International Peace Operations Association, didn’t waste much time in offering the “services” of its member companies to swoop down on Haiti for some old fashioned humanitarian assistance disaster profiteering. Within hours of the massive earthquake in Haiti, the IPOA created a special web page for prospective...
Schakowsky Prepares Legislation to Ban Blackwater
Schakowsky says Blackwater has “severely damaged the credibility and security of our military and harmed our relationship with other governments”
By Jeremy Scahill
As multiple scandals involving Blackwater continue to emerge almost daily, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is preparing to introduce legislation aimed at ending...
UPDATED: Blackwater and The Hurt Locker →
By Jeremy Scahill
One of the stars of the widely acclaimed Iraq war film The Hurt Locker has claimed that the filmmakers hired the mercenary firm Blackwater while shooting the film in the Middle East, including in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.
“We had these Blackwater guys that were working with us in the Middle East and they taught us like tactical manuervers and stuff—how...
WatchVideo of my January 7 interview on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, discussing Blackwater, the CIA and the December 30 Khost bombing in Afghanistan.
Two Blackwater Guards Arrested by FBI on Murder...
They are charged with killing two Afghan civilians in May 2009
By Jeremy Scahill
Two former Blackwater operatives were arrested by US federal agents on murder charges, stemming from their alleged involvement in the shooting deaths of two Afghan civilians in Kabul in May. They have been identified as Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach,...
Blackwater Settles Massacre Lawsuit by Paying...
Blackwater says it is “pleased” with the outcome.
By Jeremy Scahill
Two sources with inside knowledge of Blackwater’s settlement with Iraqi victims of a string of shootings, including the Nisour Square massacre, have confirmed to me that Blackwater is paying $100,000 for each of the Iraqis killed by its forces and between $20-30,000 to each Iraqi wounded. One source said it was...
Germany Launches Probe Into Blackwater/CIA...
“Imagine if [German Intelligence] were to carry out a hit job via a front company, say in New Orleans,” says a German lawmaker. “It would be a shocking occurrence”
By Jeremy Scahill
German prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that a Blackwater-led CIA team conducted a clandestine operation in Hamburg, Germany after 9/11 ultimately...
Blackwater and the Khost Bombing: Is the CIA... →
By Jeremy Scahill
A leading member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has told The Nation that she will launch an investigation into why two Blackwater contractors were among the dead in the December 30 suicide bombing at the CIA station at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. “The Intelligence Committees and the public were led to believe that the...
Sen. McCain Calls on Justice Dept. to Appeal...
By Jeremy Scahill
During a visit to Iraq, Republican Senator John McCain called on the US Justice Department to appeal the dismissal of all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of being the shooters at the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007.
“We hope and believe that the ruling will be appealed,” McCain said while seated next to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al...
December 2009
6 posts
Fed Judge Gives Blackwater Huge New Year's Gift,...
By Jeremy Scahill
A federal judge in Washington DC has given Erik Prince’s Blackwater mercenaries a huge New Year’s gift. Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed all charges against the five Blackwater operatives accused of gunning down 14 innocent Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in September 2007. Judge Urbina’s order, issued late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve is a...
Stunning Statistics About the War Every American...
Contrary to popular belief, the US actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now—and that number is quickly rising.
By Jeremy Scahill
A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up...
WatchMy appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing Erik Prince and CIA/JSOC assassinations and drone bombings.
Is Erik Prince 'Graymailing' the US Government? →
The in-depth Vanity Fair profile of the infamous owner of Blackwater, Erik Prince, is remarkable on many levels—not least among them that Prince appeared to give the story’s author, former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky, unprecedented access to information about sensitive, classified and lethal operations not only of Prince’s forces, but Prince himself. In the article, Prince is...
November 2009
6 posts
Why Is the State Department Speaking for JSOC?
By Jeremy Scahill
Interesting chain of command issues seem to be emerging in the official “denials” being offered about my story in The Nation magazine on Blackwater and the Joint Special Operations Command operations in Pakistan. A few hours before the piece was published, I received a call—unprompted—from the office of Admiral Mike Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of...
WatchVideo from The Ed Show, talking Blackwater
Town Hall Meeting on Afghanistan Today in DC
FAULT LINES: AFGHANISTAN
A televised town hall debate hosted by Al Jazeera’s Avi Lewis
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 1230pm
THE NEWSEUM 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20001
Featuring:
Matthew Hoh, Former U.S. State Department Official
General Jack Keane, Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff
Mariam Nawabi, Co-Founder, Afghanistan Advocacy Group
Jeremy Scahill, Investigative...
WatchVideo of my appearance Tuesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC discussing the allegations that Blackwater officials sought to bribe Iraqi officials to the tune of $1 million to look the other way and allow the company to continue operating in Iraq after the Nisour Square massacre in 2007. READ THE STORY HERE
Blackwater Attempted to Bribe Iraqi Officials →
In the aftermath of the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad by operatives working for Blackwater, top company officials including then-president Gary Jackson “authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support,” according to the New York Times. Seventeen Iraqis were killed and more than 20 others...
WatchOn Monday night, I was on the Lou Dobbs show on CNN for the “Face-Off” segment where I debated the neconservative, pro-Empire Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard, about Afghanistan. Patricia DeGennaro of NYU was also on the program.
October 2009
14 posts
WatchThe Rachel Maddow Show covered the meeting of the mercenary trade group, the International Peace Operations Association. In this segment, I suggest a new, softer name for the organization…
Stand Down! End Human Rights Abuses by Military...
if you are in the Washington DC area, come out to this event!:
A Panel Discussion on the Private Military Industry in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa
October 27, 2009, 6 pm
True Reformer Building: 1200 U Street, NW, Washington, DC
6pm: The Detainee Project photo exhibit by Chris Bartlett
6:30pm: Panel discussion begins
Despite grave human rights abuses at the hands of U.S. private...
WatchVideo from my brief appearance Friday morning on Democracy Now! discussing my story for The Nation: Judge Refuses to Dismiss War Crimes Case Against Blackwater
Iraq Embassy Scandal Expands: Contractor May Have...
A new State Department audit zeroes in on a politically-connected Kuwaiti company over shoddy work in constructing the world’s largest embassy By Jeremy Scahill The extent of the massive waste and abuse surrounding the construction of the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad continues to expand. The State Department has just released another audit of the embassy’s construction and...
Pentagon Instructs Officials to Cancel Contracts...
While the DoD targets a community group that does no business with the Pentagon, actual corporate crooks go un-confronted and continue to rake in $ billions in contracts.
By Jeremy Scahill
On Tuesday night, US Undersecretary of Defense Shay Assad, the Pentagon’s top contracting official, sent a memo to the commanders and directors of all branches of the military instructing them to cease...
Hillary Clinton Gives "Shameless Pitch" for...
Aerospace giant Boeing is a recidivist corporate crook, yet in a visit to Moscow, Clinton acted like a Boeing spokesperson.
By Jeremy Scahill
On a recent visit to Moscow, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was there to deliver a “shameless pitch” to the start-up Russian airline Rosavia to sign a major contract with Boeing to purchase a new fleet of aircraft from the US...
Cindy McCain Bankrolled Conference That Called for...
The ‘McCain Conference on Ethics and Military Leadership’ appears to be ahead of the senator when it comes to the US use of mercenary forces.
By Jeremy Scahill A little-publicized US Naval Academy conference named after Senator John McCain and bankrolled by his wealthy wife, Cindy, issued a call earlier this year for the US government to ban the use of armed private security...
The ACORN Standard →
From my latest article in The Nation:
The nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight and Reform recently revealed that the top 100 government contractors made nearly $300 billion from federal contracts in 2007 alone. Since 1995 these same contractors have been involved with 676 cases of “misconduct” and paid $26 billion in fines to settle cases stemming from fraud, waste or abuse....
WatchThis video, “Return of the Warlords”: Afghan Elections Marred by Fraud, Warlord Dominance,” was just produced by my great friend Rick Rowley of BigNoise Films. He is simply the best un-embedded journalist in the field today. If we had a sane nation with a democratic media, Rick’s reporting would appear on network news in the US and not just on Al Jazeera. Rick’s story will appear...
Tonight: NYC Event on Afghan War Anniversary
ENDING OBAMA’S WAR: SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 7:00pm Proshansky Auditorium, The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Ave at 34th Street [BDFV & NQRW trains to 34th St, 6 train to 33]
October 7th marks the eighth anniversary of the launch of the US led “War on Terror” in Afghanistan. Defending it as a “war of necessity,” the Obama...